By Joe McCann
COUNCILLORS have agreed not to continue with a trial recycling scheme at Home Recycling Centres (HRCs) which allowed for pedestrian only access at certain times.
The scheme ran from July to September and saw pedestrian access only for residents to use Donaghadee and Holywood Home Recycling Centres three days a week from 8am to 9am.
However results were poor, showing some usage of the scheme at Donaghadee but barely any at the Holywood HRC. Councillors agreed with the report to no longer continue the scheme.
SDLP councillor Joe Boyle said it was disappointing there was so little usage. “I actually thought it’d be a lot better and a lot stronger than that,” he told a meeting of the council’s Environment Committee.
“I thought it’d be a good case for it, but in fact it’s a good case not to do it. We’ve gone through the testing period, we’ve taken the facts, the figures, the stats, and it’s just not viable.”
Alliance councillor Alex Harbinson agreed and said: “My mum used to say try one bite and if you don’t like it, fair enough, and we’ve had a bite and the numbers aren’t there. At least we know now.”
In other recycling news however it was shown that Ards and North Down has the strongest recycling figures for any council in Northern Ireland, with recycling up and waste sent to landfill down across the board.
UUP councillor Pete Wray praised the work of the council’s Waste and Cleansing Team, and said the outcome was ‘one of the best in Northern Ireland’.
“The statistics before us are very impressive and they make for great reading,” he said.
“Household recycling is up by 3.3%, and that now takes us to the top of the league table for Northern Ireland. Our household recycling rate is better than any council in Northern Ireland, and that’s something to be proud of.
“It’s also very pleasing that our residual waste (or waste that goes to landfill) continues to decrease,” he added.
“It went down 0.6% at kerbside, and a whopping 7.5% at our Household Recycling Centres.
“This all indicates that our campaigns are having an impact, people are recycling more and putting less in their grey bin. Of course this is excellent news for the borough.
“Our recycling rates impact on everyone both in terms of protecting our environment and in terms of our rates setting. Quite simply the more we recycle our waste, the better it is for our environment, and the less council pays to landfill.
“The more that goes in our grey bins and in the non-recyclable skips, the bigger the bill that is then passed onto the ratepayer.”
Mr Wray also noted how there were 80,136 bookings to the borough’s HRCs within a three month reporting period.
“People are using the HRCs, they are making a special effort with recycling their waste, and this is a very good news story for the borough,” he said.
